Welcome to our first review by request. A short time ago we received an email from Vape Squad reader Debbie, asking if we could review the Rainbow Heaven MKB-TS. We mentioned that we’d had our eye on this particular GGTS clone for a while, and were hoping to find a way to get it cheap before we took the $100 plunge and bought one retail. Debby’s request, however, completely destroyed our willpower, and not long after receiving her request we were making a purchase at Stormy’s Vapor Cellar.
MKB-TS with Terminator-C (aka Imeo’s Worst Nightmare)
The MKB-TS is easily the most faithful replica of a GGTS to come out of China yet, and it has all the features of the Golden Greek mechanical mod. There’s the familiar three-piece telescoping feature, the bottom-side-mounted button, and the signature knurled airflow control ring of the GGTS. It even duplicates the popular two-toned look of some models of the GGTS, using a gold-plated top ring and bottom cap, the latter sporting recessed venting holes very similar to the GGTS.
Another features the MKB-TS shares with the GGTS is the way the connector works. Just like the GGTS, the connector on the MKB-TS is set far down inside a collector tank. This leads to the same challenge many GGTS users have faced: it’s not always a simple thing to get an atomizer connected. While the GGTS Adapter can be used on the real GGTS, we were disappointed that this solidly-built adapter does not fit on the MKB-TS. For the MKB-TS, you’re going to have to go old school, and daisy-chain a couple of adapters, if you want to leave the air control and the gold-plated top ring attached under your atomizer. Fortunately, we can help take some of the guesswork out of that for you: we found that a 901/808-to-501 adapter, paired with a 510-to-510 shorty adapter, both of which we’d ordered several months back from Hoosier E-Cigs, were the perfect length to reach right up to the top of the ring with almost no gap at all between the ring and the atomizer. Also, the manufacturer of the MKB-TS has announced they will be producing their own adapter, but until that becomes available the pairing we are using is working very well.
For all the similarities to the GGTS, there are some notable differences. First, as should be expected, the build materials aren’t quite GGTS-grade. Not that they’re bad at all, mind you; it’s just that GGTS-grade is a very high bar to reach. The stainless steel used to build the MKB-TS is certainly thicker and sturdier than most Chinese-made mods, with a brushed finish that should help ward off fingerprints. The gold-colored pieces, however, are not brass, but gold-plated. We’ve been told it’s copper underneath, but haven’t put it to a scratch test yet. We are, however, tempted to take sandpaper to it to expose the copper, if that’s what under there.
We particularly like the switch — unsurprisingly, since it’s an almost exact replica of the one on the GGTS, complete with throw adjustment and a locking ring, and it is just as easy to remove and keep clean as the one on the GGTS. The spring also has a very similar feel to the one on the GGTS, though the throw feels just slightly lighter on our MKB-TS.
All in all, we’d have to say we are very impressed with the build and feel of this mod. While it hasn’t quite got the weight of the GGTS, and the pieces may not mesh quite as seamlessly, but taken on its own merits the MKB-TS is still a very well-built, very good-looking mod.
The Scores
Build Quality: 8/10
The materials used to build the MKB-TS are a cut above the sort normally found in Chinese mods, and clones in particular. It is fairly thick and sturdy stainless steel, though some parts are covered with a gold plating, under which, we’ve been told, is copper.
Looks: 8/10
The MKB-TS looks a bit like a somewhat boxier GGTS: all the same parts are there, but the MKB-TS lacks some of the rounded edges and other small details of GGTS. The gold-plated accents look great, but being plated, we’re not sure how long they’ll keep their shine, especially considering that the plating has been used on two of the parts of the mod that typically receive a lot of wear: the bottom and top caps.
Flexibility: 8/10
We were pleased to find that our GGTS-based atomizers such as the UFS and Z-Atty-G, as well as the GG iAtty, Odysseus and Ithaka with the GGTS base attached, all fit the MKB-TS. The telescoping feature accommodates a wide array of batteries as well. We’d have scored this category even higher than we have if not for the fact that using a non-GGTS atomizer requires the use of third-party adapters, at least until such time as Rainbow Heaven’s adapter becomes available.
Performance: 9/10
Our first impression of the MKB-TS was that it performed quite well. Opting for a setup as GGTS-like as possible without actually using any GG parts, we paired it with a Terminator-C, and the pair worked very well together.
Performance of the mod was unexpectedly good for a Chinese mod. The use of brass contacts internally seems to improve throughput greatly, and the MKB-TS exhibited an average voltage retention of approximately 92% in our tests (a drop of .33 volts of a 4.25 volt charge) both with adapters and without, putting it up there with some of the best we’ve tested.
Price: 7/10
We bought our MKB-TS for about $100 at retail. While this is more expensive than most other Chinese mechanicals, we’ve also found the MKB-TS to be a better-built mod than most Chinese mechanicals as well. While the MKB-TS may not be capable of winning a head-to-head match against a GGTS, is it a good enough copy to justify a price about half that of the GGTS? We think so, and if you get a chance to pick one of these up at co-op prices, we think you’ll be very pleased with it.
Overall Score: 8.0
The Rainbow Heaven MKB-TS
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